Safety razor magazine



June 20, 1944. J, MUROS SAFETY RAZOR MAGAZINE Filed July 23, 1943Patented June 20, 1944 SAFETY RAZOR MAGAZINE Joseph Muros, Cambridge,Mass., assignor to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass, acorporation of Delaware Application July 23. 1943, Serial No. 495,866

6 Claims. (Cl. 206-16) This invention relates to safety razors of thetype having a thin flexible blade removably held in shaving positiontherein by co-operating blade-clamping members. In one respect theinvention consists in an improved magazine mechanism for feeding tosuchrazors a thin sharpedged blade without damage to its edge and withoutdanger of cutting the user. In another aspect it consists inimprovements in safety razor-magazine combinations.

In safety razor blade magazines it has been a problem of many yearsstanding to prevent occasional jamming of two or more thin blades in theexit slot of the magazine. It sometimes happens that the user willimpart only a partial stroke to the feed slide, leaving a bladepartially ejected, and then go back and attempt to move the feed slide asecond time. Under these conditions a second blade is forced into theslot intended for the passage of one blade only. Jamming of the bladesthus results and the user frequently cuts his fingers in attempting toclear it.

This danger of jamming is obviated in accordance with an importantfeature of the present invention by providing the feed slide withbladeretracting projections which, if the previous blade has not beenfully ejected from the magazine, are efiective to engage and return theblade to its initial position in the magazine.

In using safety razors with blade magazines as heretofore constructedthe user sometimes grasps the razor with one hand while presenting themagazine with the other and delivering a blade into shaving position.Under these circumstances the sharp edge or edges of the blade projectbeyond the outline of the cap and are likely to cut the users fingers.This danger has been overcome by the invention of Samuel C. Stampleman,as disclosed in his co-pending application Ser. No. 492,519, byequipping the feed slide of the magazine with protecting guardingportions designed to overlie the sharp edge or edges of the blade andact to safeguard it during its advancing movement from the magazine toshaving position in the razor. The present invention may be embodied ina magazine of that tvpe a d in one specific form consists in providingthe guard members of the feed slide with means for engaging andretracting a blade not fully ejected from the magazine by a previousmovement of the feed slide.

Another important Ieature of my invention consists in the combination ofa magazine feed slide having blade retracting devices and a safety razorso organized as to deflect or move to iniii operative position theblade-retracting means, so

that when the blade has been fully delivered to its shaving position inthe razor the feed slide may be returned to its initial position withoutdisturbing the blade.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a view in perspective of the magazine;

Fig. 2 is a view of the razor head in end elevation and on an enlargedscale;

Fig. 3 is a view of the razor head and magazine in longitudinal sectionand on the same enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspective of a portion of the feedslide with a portion of a blade shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the internal members of the magazine;and

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of the razor head showing a portion ofthe cap broken away and substantially in actual size.

The safety razor herein illustrated is in itself not part of the presentinvention butis the subject matter of a co-pending application of Murosand Testi, Ser. No. 486,290, filed May 10, 1943. It forms, however, oneelement of a novel razor and magazine combination and will therefore bebriefly described herein. It comprises a tubular handle I0 permanentlyand rotatably secured to a guard member H which, as shown in Fig. 6, hasoutwardly and downwardly turned guard bars l2'and a substantially flatblade supporting face bounded by parallel fulcrum shoulders. In the bodyof the guard is formed a diamondshaped depression l3 having a circularaperture near one end. To the bottom of the guard is permanently secureda fiat spring l4 carrying near its free end a detent l5 which iscylindrical in cross-section and passes with clearance through thecircular aperture in the bottom of the depression 13. The detent I5 isbevelled in its upper surface and normally extends substantially abovethe fiat blade-supporting face of the guard member. It is designed tointerlock with an aperture provided for the purpose in the blade and toanchor the blade against longitudinal 'movement after the blade has oncebeen delivered fully in its shaving position. The spring disengage theblade for removal.

The cap member [6 of the razor is slightly narrower than the guardmember and has a transversely concave inner face which co-operates withthe fulcrum shoulders of the guard member in bowing a blade over thefulcrum shoulders when the cap and guard members are moved into clampingengagement. The cap I is provided also with a narrow blade-locating ribI1 which is interrupted to clear the detent already mentioned. It isalso provided with a downwardly extending stem 18 having a threadedportion I9 which is engaged by a correspondingly threaded portion in thehandle I 0. In the lower end of the stem Ill-I9 is provided a stop screw20, movable freely in the bore of the handle but arranged to limitseparation of the cap and guard members to an amount which merelyprovides for the con-- venient insertion of a blade with the feed slideof the magazine. In Fig. 3 the cap and guard members of the razor areshownin their position of maximum separation.

The razor and magazine are shown herein as designed to employ a slottedand perforated double-edged blade of the well-known Gillette type asbest shown in Fig. 4. The blade 40 is recessed in each corner to provideelongated unsharpened end portions. It is provided with a longitudinalslot 4|. This includes one or more apertures 42 of sufficient width toreceive the detent I5. The slot 4| is shown as opening through one endof the blade and thus clearance is provided in the blade for theblade-locating rib ll of the safety razor.

The magazine comprises a sheet metal enclosure of rectangular outlinehaving a top consisting of two side portions 22, side walls 23 and abottom 24. Placed upon the bottom of the magazine is an insert 25 bestshown in Fig. 5. This is also constructed of sheet metal and providedwith flanged end walls 26 and 21. These are provided at each end withtongues which interlock with corresponding notches in the side walls ofthe magazine enclosure. A transverse tongue 28 is formed by die-cuttingand bending the material of the bottom of the insert as is also alongitudinally disposed blade-locating rib 29. Within the magazine isalso disposed a spring member having a fiat body 30 slotted to receivethe rib and two upwardly curved leaf springs 3| which act continuouslyto press the blade stack upwardly in the magazine against its slottedtop wall. I

The flanged wall 26 of the insert is of such height as to form with thetop of the magazine a blade exit slot through which the feed slide 32may also move. The feed slide is of thin flexible material and separatedinto two side portions by a longitudinal slot which opens through theouter end of the slide. A pair of diagonal slits 33 is formed in thesolid end of the feed slide and their edges are displaced downwardly soas to engage the rear outer corners of the uppermost blade in the stackwhen the feed slide is moved forwardly over the stack. A knurled fingerpiece 35 is secured to the solid end of the feed slide and arranged formovement back and forth in the slot in the top of the magazine. Thetongue 28 is of such height as to permit the feed slide to be retractedto the extreme right-hand end of the magazine so as to locate theblade-engaging edges 33 of the feed slide beyond the end of the bladestack. In each side portion 32 of the feed slide and adjacent the outerend thereof is provided a. dog 34 which projects below the surface ofthe feed slide suificiently to engage and retract a blade when the feedslide and blade are disposed adjacent to each other in flat position.

In operation the magazine is filled with a stack of six or ten bladesdisposed with their open ends toward the left, as shown in Fig. 3, andpositioned as a stack by the rib 29 with their sharp edges out ofcontact with the walls of the magazine. When it is desired to supply afresh blade to the razor the handle IU of the razor is turned in acounter-clockwise direction separating the cap and guard members to thelimit determined by the stop screw 20. The magazine is then brought intooperative relation with the razor with the ends of the feed slideintroduced between the cap and guard members. The finger piece 35 isthen advanced from right to-left and as the feed slide 32 passes overthe blade stack the uppermost blade is engaged by the convergin edges 33and advanced in flat condition beneath the feed slide. This feedingmovement continues until the blade is safely delivered fully to itsshaving position. In passing over the detent IS the blade depresses thelatter until it reaches its shaving position. At that point the detentI5 registers with and enters the aperture 42 and when this happens theblade is permitted to lie fiat upon the blade-supporting face of theguard member. When the detent l5 passes through the aperture 42 thedetent engages the flexible feed slide and bows it transversely bypressing it upwardly against the concave face of the cap Hi. When thisoccurs the dogs 34 are displaced upwardly into inoperative position withrespect to the blade and accordingly when the feed slide is retractedthe dogs 34 travel in a path entirely above the blade 40 and, therefore,perform no function.

On the other hand, if, for any reason the uppermost blade in the stackis not fully ejected from the magazine and fully locked in its shavingposition, the dogs 34 will not be rendered inoperative because thedetent l5 does not pass through the blade aperture 42. In the retrogrademovement of the feed slide the dogs 34 will, therefore, engage theforward end of the blade and return the blade to its initial position inthe magazine. The feed slide never passes off the blade stack in itsforward stroke but merely depresses the second blade and those beneathit against the compression springs 3|. In its reverse stroke, however,the blade-engaging edges 33 drop behind the rear end of the next bladeand engage it for forward feeding.

It will be understood that the sheet metal of the feed slide 32 isflexible and that the transverse flexibility of the slide issubstantially increased by its longitudinal slot. It may, therefore, bereadily flexed in a transverse direction by pressure of the detent l5whenever the latter is permitted to pass through the blade aperture andengage the feed slide. In Fig. 2 the side portions 32 of the feed slideare shown as deflected upwardly by the detent l5, carrying the dogs 34into inoperative positions above the blade 40. It will be apparent thatwith the dogs located in this position the feed slide may be retractedwithout disturbing the blade.

The limit screw 20 projects beyond the end of the stem I9 by a distancewhich permits the cap to be lifted above the guard for the freepresentation of the plade on the surface of the guard member II, butsuch separation is not suflicient to permit movement of the blade or thefeed slide beyond the range of the detent I5, even though the latterdoes not extend to any outlet slot at one end. and a feed slide havingmeans at one end for engaging and advancing a blade, and means at itsother end for retracting a blade not fully ejected from the magazine bya previous movement of the slide.

2. A magazine for thin sharp edged blades, comprising an enclosureprovided with a blade outlet slot in one end, and a thin flexible ieedslide shaped to overlie a blade in the magazine and having means foradvancing the blade by engaging its rear end, and means -on the slidespaced beyond the advancing end of the blade for retracting a blade notfully ejected from the magazine.

3. A magazine for thin sharp edged blades, comprising an enclosureprovided with a blade outlet slot in one end, and a feed slide offlexible 4. In a magazine for thin sharp edged blades,

a flexible feed slide forked by a longitudinal slot extending throughits outer end, blade-advanc ing projections at the inner end of theslide, and blade retracting projections at its outer end.

- 5. In a magazine for thin flexible blades, a flexible feed slidedivided by a longitudinal slot into two side portions, blade-advancingprojec tions at one end of the slide, and blade-retracting projectionslocated in the side portions adjacent to said slot where they may bereadily deflected away-from a blade advanced by the slide.

6. In a magazine for thin flexible blades, a feed slide of fiat sheetmetal having a central longitudinal slot opening through its outer endand a solid inner end, converging blade-engaging shoulders disposed inspaced relation inthe solid end of the slide, and projecting dogslocated in the outer ends of the slide, one on either side of its saidslot where it may be readily deflected out of the normal plane of thefeed slide.

JOSEPH MUROB.

